Saturday, February 2, 2008

Five best books about conspiracy theories

Max Holland, author of The Kennedy Assassination Tapes, named five books which "help untangle the mysterious popularity of conspiracy theories" for the Wall Street Journal.

Number One on his list:

The Paranoid Style in American PoliticsBy Richard HofstadterKnopf, 1965

First conceived as a university lecture, Richard Hofstadter's seminal essay -- the title work in this collection -- remains the place to begin any discussion of conspiracy theories. "Heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy" are hallmarks of the paranoid style, writes Hofstadter (1916-70). To paranoia's purveyors, "history is a conspiracy, set in motion by demonic forces of almost transcendent power." Hofstadter was writing about extreme right-wing groups, such as the John Birch Society, that flourished in the early 1960s. It's a pity that he is not here to analyze today's extreme leftists who promote the line that the Bush administration was behind the 9/11 terror attacks.